Vines of Destiny
by Smalls and Milkshake
Summary: Brandie Foster and Vinnie Monferdo. Two different girls find they are not all that different on that fateful day when their paths crossed. Can they set aside their differences and overcome the tragedy before them?


Vines of Destiny 

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: We don't own newsies, but we do own Brandie and Vinnie! And the plot! Newsies belongs to Disney (mumbles to themselves...)

Prologue 

"Quiet down, quiet down! Wha's all da hubbub?" Jack Kelly said to the boys that were surrounding him.' 

"Huge headline!" Racetrack Higgins gasped. "Big o' train mis'ap! Dozens killed! We're gonna make lots o' money today! Dey even gots a list wit da names o' da dead an' of da survivors!" 

"Calm down Race. Lemme see dat amazin' headline." Kid Blink handed Jack the paper. Slowly, he looked at the article. His eyes widened, a smile spread across his face. 

"Get ready boys, we're gonna be rich." 

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"Extry extry! Terrible train crash kills hundreds! Get if righ' heah. Tank ya sir." Jack shouted out as a man bought a newspaper. He turned and saw a girl that looked his age. 

"Would ya like a paper miss?" He approached her. He noticed her puffy red eyes, and her sorry state. 

"I would, if I could afford it." She hung her head so he couldn't see the tears brimming her eyes. He felt sorry for her. He wanted to help her out a little. His mind raced as he thought of a way to. 

"I see. Is dat a penny righ' dere?" He asked, dropping a penny from his pocket. She looked down at it, smiling. 

" Thank you." She picked up the penny and gave it back to him. In return he gave her a paper. Her smile was instantly replacecd by a frown when she read the headline. Her eyes filled with tears again as she read further down the page. 

Jack, being the way he was, didn't leave. Instead he spoke to her. 

"Dere's a list somewheah wit de survivors. Not to many I hear. Lookin' fer someone?" He asked. She looked up from the paper. 

"Yeah. Me mudda an' fudda were headin' ta Independence Missouri. I'm afraid dat dey were on dat train." She looked away, muffling a sob. 

Jack rearranged his red bandana, and spoke softly to her. "Wha's yer las' name? I'll help ya if ya like." He offered. It took her awhile to answer. He didn't blame her. She was bound to be an orphan by now. It seemed implausible that her parents had survived. 

"Foster. Dere names our Martha an' Greg." She let the tears flow freely now. She couldn't deal with losing her parents. Even though they fought with each other, abused each other, abused her, and rejected her, she needed them. 

Jack scanned over the death list. He cringed when he say the name _Martha Foster_ inscribed there. He frantically looked for a Greg Foster on the death list, but didn't find it. His eyes quickly jumped to the survivor list. Greg Foster's name was under it, along with fourteen others. 12 of the names had asteriks by them, including his. Jack looked to the bottom of the list. The asterisk meant that those people were wounded. These particular people were at St. Mary's Hospital. 

He glanced over at her. She already knew. She wasn't an orphan yet, but the article went on to say that the wounded had a slim chance of living. He knew that she had no money. She hadn't been able to afford a paper that cost a penny. 

"Well, ya could live at da lodging house if ya like." He offered her. 

Vinnie's POV

As soon as I saw Jack and that brown headed girl, I felt a streak of envy. She appeared as though she had been crying, and I'm sure that Jack was "comforting" her. 

"Hey, dis is Brandie," Jack announced, looking around Tibby's. The boys all looked up from their lunches at them. I rolled my eyes. Perfect! Since I was the only girl there (and between both cities) I knew he would look to me, asking to show her around. I was right.

He beckoned me over and spoke silently to me. "Vinnie, this is Brandie-" well, duh! "I want you to show her around. I gotta go finish sellin' or I have no money tomorrow.-" your point is?!? "Just show her around, she lost her parents today, maybe both of them. I dont know.-" Oh. Big surprise. I looked at her. She looked at the ground. I knew what she was going though. I had lost my parents too. 

"Well, ya gonna say something?" I prompted her. She looked up, surprised, and shook her head. I grew frustrated and squinted my eyes at her. "Are ya dumb (mute) or something?!" She looked up at me, at once; her eyes a clear blue. 

"No, I am not." She said, no trace of an accent. This made me wonder. 

"Sorry, if I hurt ya feelings. Where ya from?"

"I'm from New York, but I went to school. I lost some o' me accent, because there, they made us speak proper. I havent gone in a while, but I don't want to forget. I only slip into it, accidentally, if I'm upset or something."

I looked away and rolled my eyes. What a goody-goody! I studdied her a little longer. She was pretty, she even had some boys throwing her side glances. It may have been that she 

was pretty, but I knew that when I became a newsie a couple years back, I had gotten some of those side glances to.

"Well, uh... I guess I should intraduce ya ta some o' da boys." I pointed over to the side that was covered the most by the newsies. "There are our beloved boys, actin' like pigs and shovelin' food down their pie hole." A combination of snorts, laughter, and exclamations came from the few that heard.   


"We ain't no pigs!" said Kid Blink, standing up and scratching his eye patch, "We'se just hungry that is all." He sat back down. 

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'll show ya da way ta da lodgin' house. The evenin' edition's already been sold, and it's time for me ta get home." Along the way, I explained to her that we weren't supposed to be sleeping with the boys. There were six loding houses for boys and one for the girls in all of Manhattan. That's a lotta kids. 

"But, we gotta pay a nickel every night, and dat gets us suppah. But most o' us prefer to get dinner from Tibby's." She nodded. I hoped she understood. I wasn't about to explain it all over again. We walked in silence to the lodging house, with me leading. I glanced over to her. She was looking at the ground and softly crying. Oh shit, I thought, here we go. "What's wrong? Brandie? Right?" I stopped her. 

"Nothing," she said, wiping away a few of her tears. I quietly closed my eyes and questioned my patience. Then why the hell are ya cryin'? I thought but said, 

"I'm sure it has somet'in' ta do wit' da headline taday, right?" She noddded. "Oh, so we gots an orphan here," I muttered, rolling my eyes for the umpteenth time. She must have heard me, 

"What?! You saw me parents names? They're dead??" She burst out crazily. I was stunned, I hadn't expected that outburst. She was still staring wide eyed at me when I recovered. 

"No, no, I was just sayin.. how.. I'm an orphan, too. Not that your one, of course," I added hastily. I didnt need people to call the bulls on account of harassing someone. I looked around, "Look, the lodgin' house is up ahead, let's get der and ya can tell me about what happened, alright?" She nodded. I sighed, thanking God for my negotiation skills. I rolled my eyes to the sky, _Damn you Cowboy. Damn softy._

~~A/N~~ Shall we introduce ourselves? YES! I am Colleen, better known as Milkshake. That girlie down there in Georgia is Adrianne, or better known as Smalls. (Hence our pen name!) We are both crazy for newsies...Spot!! Hehe! Now, unto the story! We both contributed to this chapter! More so I wrote the prologue and Jack and Brandie's convo, and Smalls wrote Vinnie's POV. It's our first story on this account, but not our first apperance on fanfiction. We each have our separate accounts, hers being Vinnie Monfredo and mine being Padfootismyhero (shakes her head) yes I want to change that name but have decided against it. Vinnie stars in Smalls's story, and Brandie stars in mine. Check them out! Now for this one, please review! They always help! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come soon! We promise! *Smalls waves to the mob of future reviewers! I am stuffing my face with cookies!* Thanks! 


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